Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Soon after JDU walked out of the NDA alliance in Bihar, several social media users are sharing a video, claiming to show JDU workers assaulting BJP supporters.
The viral video shows an enraged group of men disrupting what appears to be a BJP rally, assaulting BJP workers seated inside an autorickshaw decked with BJP flags.
One Twitter user remarked, “It’s not even one day the alliance ended and BJP receives its share of Hatred in return…(sic)”. Another tweeted, “I think ED will not Aproach to Bihar(sic).” The video was also circulated with Hindi captions.
Newschecker found the video is actually from West Bengal, and showed clashes between BJP and TMC workers.
The archived versions of the posts can be seen here, here and here.
What had happened in Bihar
Bihar chief minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar on Tuesday broke away from the ruling alliance with BJP and joined hands with the Opposition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He later took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for a record eighth time, allying with the Mahagathbandhan (RJD, Congress and Left), with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy.
Kumar pulled off a reversal of his 2017 move when he left the Mahagathbandhan to rejoin the NDA. This was the second time Nitish Kumar walked out of the alliance with BJP in the past nine years. The chief minister was reportedly upset over Union home minister Amit Shah allegedly foraging within the JDU for defectors. According to reports, Nitish Kumar felt that RCP Singh, a senior leader from his party who had joined the Union cabinet, was being used to turn the JDU against him.
Fact Check/Verification
To find out if the video was indeed from Bihar, Newschecker did a reverse image search of key frames of the video, which did not bring up any relevant results.
On closely analysing the video, we noticed that the pro-BJP slogans that were heard in the video were in Bengali. Several users also pointed out in the comment section that the video was from West Bengal.
Taking a cue, we then went with a keyword search of the terms “BJP clash Bengal”, “BJP TMC clash”, which threw up results displaying the same video.
According to a Times Now article, which carried the viral video, BJP leaders in West Bengal accused ruling TMC MLA Asit Majumdar, of Chunchura constituency, and his supporters of beating up their party workers. The report further stated that the altercation took place at Khadinan More in Hooghly district’s Chinsurah during a BJP rally.
A keyword search of the term “TMC clash Hooghly” led us to the same video shared by Times of India with the caption reading, “A clash broke out between TMC and BJP workers in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. The clash was captured on camera. A TMC leader can be seen charging at the BJP workers. BJP workers can also be seen raising hands on him.”
Conclusion
Newschecker’s investigation found that the viral video claiming to show JDU workers assaulting BJP supporters in Bihar is actually from Bengal’s Hooghly, and shows clashes between TMC and BJP workers.
Result: False
Our sources
Times of India report, Clash breaks out between TMC and BJP workers in Hooghly, August 6, 2022
Times Now report, West Bengal: Clash Raged Between TMC And BJP Workers In Hooghly District, August 6, 2022
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback, or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form.
Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
